About: Ted

LAS VEGAS – Coleman Proctor needed to change some things up. He and his heeler, Billie Jack Saebens, have been just out of the money three times through the first five nights of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and had one no-time, so Proctor made a horse change. “Waiting on Round 5 to win something is now how we want it,” said Proctor, a four-time NFR qualifier from Pryor, Okla. “It’s now how we drew it up, but we’ve been pecking away. “It’s funny how a guy can get tapped off and rolling in the right direction or he’s in the whole. I made the horse change tonight; I’m on my little bay horse, Heisman. I thought he did an outstanding job.” He and Saebens stopped the clock in 4.0 seconds to finish the fifth round in a tie for third place, worth $13,327. It was important for the tandem to finally earn some Vegas money. “Billie ropes great,” Proctor said. “The steer he missed was tough to heel. He made a great run on him tonight. That sucker tricked us; he came up the rope and was hard to heel. He usually ropes every thing else by two feet. I feel like we have had just a few little bad breaks. “He’s roping great, the horses are working great and I feel like it is coming our way. I’m grateful for a check tonight, and I’m looking forward to many more the rest of the week.” The NFR is a tricky championship. Saebens and Proctor are just one of the top 15 teams that are competing for the world championship. Just like Las Vegas, Lady Luck can be a negative piece of the puzzle inside the Thomas & Mack Center. So maybe changing to Heisman changed his luck, or maybe it just gave him and Saebens a different opportunity. “He let me get off the back (of the timed-event box) a little quicker,” Proctor said of the horse. “You’ve got to get out of there a lot sooner. I was just missing the barrier on the sorrel. We would catch and make a good run, but we weren’t winning anything. “Sometimes it’s like a heavy-weight fight; you’ve just got to make your way through the meat of the rounds, and finally it will come your way.” Now he can enjoy his time with his baby, Stella Rein Lèon Proctor, who was born in late October. She won’t remember anything about this NFR, but she’ll have a nice scrapbook he will provide. “Having her here is great,” he said. “We go back to the room every night. We watch Longmire on Netflix, and she goes right to sleep. It’s been an awesome routine this week, and we have enjoyed it.”

LAS VEGAS – The TV pen at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo features the greatest bucking horses in the game. Monday night in Las Vegas proved that, and Richmond Champion lived it. He scored 88 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Dirty Jacket, a score that would win almost any rodeo, and settled for a three-way tie for second place. “When you are standing on the back of the bucking chutes and the contractors and everybody back there is just smiling and cheering, that is when you know something special is going on,” said Champion, who pocketed $15,794 for his performance during the fifth go-round. “That might be the rankest round of bareback riding that I’ve ever been a part of, especially here. “To have that many guys show up and that many horses show up and do their deal, it doesn’t get any better than that.” Utahan Mason Clements won the round with an 88.5, and two Orin Larsen and J.R. Vezain finished in a tie for fifth with 87.5. With the NFR paying out the top six places, just one point separated the bunch. But Champion knew he had a great opportunity on Dirty Jacket, a powerful 13-year-old bay gelding that was twice named the Bareback Horse of the Year. Champion knows the animal well. He first rode the horse for 91 points to win in Cheyenne, Wyo., in 2014. Five months later, the two matched again for an 88.5-point ride to win the fifth round of that season’s NFR. He was 90 points to win in Eagle, Colo., in 2015. “He’s an amazing animal,” he said. “He’s my little ace in the pocket. When he’s done with it, I’ll take care of him if he wants to graze up my graze. He’s paid for my house by now. “Somebody asked me about that in the locker room. I didn’t say anything; I just crossed my fingers and crossed my toes and just went on with my business. In this pen, there were so many good horses. When 88 splits second, third and fourth, it doesn’t get any better than that.” With his earnings on Monday, Champion became the richest bareback rider of this year’s NFR. Through five rounds, he has pocketed $72,122. More importantly, he has pushed his season payroll to $173,319 and sits second in the world standings. He trails the leader, Tim O’Connell, but nearly $100,000, but with $26,231 paid to the winner each night, Champion can make up that ground over the final five nights. He’s also enjoying every bit of the experience he’s had. “I’ve never been on a big team sport that won a game and was whooping and hollering in the locker room, but we were a team tonight,” he said. “Everybody was just high-fiving and fist-bumping. It was one of the coolest things I’ve been part of.” He has every reason to celebrate this year’s NFR.

LAS VEGAS – It wasn’t much, but the $2,115 that Hardy Braden earned Monday during the fifth round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo means something big. He remains consistent and is giving himself every chance to win. He proved that with an 85.5-point ride on Powder River Rodeo’s Rich N Fancy to finish in a tie for sixth place. It marked the fourth time in five nights that he’s earned an NFR paycheck. “Tonight’s horses were the best of the best,” said Braden of Welch, Okla. “It’s a good score in any other pen, but there are 15 of the best bucking horses going down the road in tonight’s pen. “If you stub your toe, they are going to buck you off. I just needed to keep hustling, and it worked out.” Yes, it did. Braden has ridden four of five horses. If he has stayed on, he has found money. He has earned $57,173 through five nights of ProRodeo’s grand championship. He has moved up to sixth in the world standings with just shy of $160,000 in season earnings. It’s been a good year by any standard, but it’s been quite incredible for Braden. His best year prior to 2017 was a year ago, and he won $34,511. That means this year’s campaign is almost five times better than last. He knew he’d have to get a good start Monday if he had hopes of adding to his total. His key was making a solid mark-out, where the heel of his boot was over Rich N Fancy’s shoulder, allowing his spur stroke to be strong. The other bronc riders offered a bit of assistance in his ride, as happens to be the case among rodeo contestants – they know that it’s not man vs. man; it’s the cowboy that rides the best animal that wins. That comradery is what makes rodeo much different than other sports. “They told me she will be better if you were to try to hang on with your mark-out for a jump or two to try to get in time with her,” Braden said. “That horse never has the same trip twice. Everything is different, but tonight she had just a good trip.” So did Braden, who remains consistent. His average score has been just a bit better than 85.5, and that’s paid off quite well. While $2,115 isn’t big compared to round-winner Sterling Crawley’s $26,231, it is valuable in its own way. “There are a lot of rodeos where that’s the grand prize,” Braden said. “Some people work all month long to make $2,100. It’s pretty special.”

LAS VEGAS – When the starting quarterback goes down, every team must then trust the next man in line. J.D. Struxness is about to begin the second half of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, and he’s already reached for his backup, a solid gray horse named Max, owned by 16-time NFR qualifier Todd Suhn. It paid off rather well during Monday’s fifth round, as Max guided Struxness to a 4.1-second run, worth $11,000 “Max has been out here a couple of times, and guys have done good on him,” said Struxness, who has moved up from 13th to fifth in the world standings, thanks to the $54,761 he has earned in the first five nights of the 10-round grand finale. “A couple of guys ride him, so I knew he’d work good. “We had a good steer drawn, so I just needed to get that start. It doesn’t matter what you’re riding; you still have to get the start. That horse works good, so we got a good start and had a good run.” He has pushed his season earnings to $131,203, and this is a great place to do it. Struxness won the fourth round, pocketing $26,231, so he has a chance to really cash in while he is in Sin City. So far, he has placed in three rounds. “It’s nice that we are still rolling and doing good,” said Struxness of Appleton, Minn. “We will see what happens the rest of the week on whatever horse I’m riding. Hopefully we can keep rolling.” Unlike most professional sports, there are no guarantees in rodeo. In order to get paid, cowboys must finish better than most of the others. There are 15 steer wrestlers competing in ProRodeo’s championship, and only the top six earn paychecks each night. Horsepower is also the key. For most of the season, he has leaned on his solid horse, Peso, but the sorrel gelding has been running a fever. That’s why Max became the starter on Monday night. “That’s why we brought him out here,” Struxness said of the gray. “There are problems that come up with horsepower right before the finals with a couple of guys. There wasn’t going to be very many horses to ride, so we made a good decision to bring him out here. I’m glad we did. I had a good horse to ride, and we placed on that steer.” It takes a solid team to find success at a rodeo like the NFR. He leans on his hazer, Jacob Shofner, and Shofner’s solid hazing horse, Redbone. “Jacob does a good job over there,” Struxness said. “He’s keeping those steers straight so we can catch them up fast without having to ride over too far. He makes it all happen over there.” Now the Minnesota cowboy hopes to remain aggressive and see what happens in the second half of ProRodeo’s grand finale.

LAS VEGAS – There were some things in Ryan Jarrett’s roping that left him a bit uncomfortable through Rounds 2-4 at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He decided to work on them, and it seems to have made a difference. He roped and tied his calf in 8.1 seconds Monday night to finish sixth in the fifth round, pocketing $4,231 in the process. It was a nice way to rebound after three nights of struggles. “I went out and roped (Monday) morning,” said Jarrett, the 2005 all-around world champion from Comanche, Okla. “Things felt a little out of whack. I was able to level some things out, and it paid off.” He kicked off the 2017 NFR by winning the opening round last Thursday. Then he had long times in both the second and third rounds. He suffered a no-time on Night 4. Still, he’s pocketed a little more than $40,000, and there’s still have the championship remaining. “I had just an OK calf and got a decent start,” he said. “The horse was really good. I feel like I made a pretty good run for what I had. I was just excited to place.” It was more than a sigh of relief. The world’s richest rodeo features only the top 15 contestants in each event, so the competition is fierce. An 8.1-second run will typically place high at most rodeos, but it’s on the slower end in Las Vegas. The setup is fast, and so are the cowboys. “That time has place more than once since we’ve been here,” Jarrett said. “The calves have been a little different to me, but you can’t dwell on it. I just hope for a good night the rest of the week.” That’s important. There is $84,615 up for grabs each night, with the go-round winners pocketing $26,231. Jarrett hasn’t let the disappointment get to him, but this is also his 10th trip to ProRodeo’s grand finale, so he has plenty of experiences dealing with the roller coaster that can be the NFR. “My plan is that I’m just going to rope my style of roping, and hopefully they’ll pay me,” Jarrett said. “I just need to make good runs, hopefully draw well and cash some more checks. He’d like to get five more nice paychecks to close out the final five nights of the 2017 season, and he knows he’s got an ace in the hole in his horse, Snoopy. “He’s been super good,” he said. “He’s really easy to rope on, and real level across the line. He sets me up to be good every time.”